§ 08. TRIBUTES TO THE INIEMORY OF CALVIN. 289
his bolder and nioro active friend Farel. Some peculiar circumstances in tiie political condition of that place favored the views which he seems to have formed very shortly after his arrival. . . .
"Tiie preceding narrative has already shown how, from that time to the hour of his death, his care and labor were constantly directed to the consolidation of his power, and to the development of his scheme of ecclesiastical polity. In these objects he was so successful that it may be safely affirmed that none of the Reformers, not even Luther himself, attained to so absolute and extensive an influence."
Archdeacon Fkkdicric W. Fakrak, D.D., F.R.S.
Historij of Interpretation. London, 1886, pp. 342-344.
"The greatest exegete and theologian of the Reformation was imdoubtedly Calvin. He is not an attractive figure in the history of that great movement. The mass of mankind revolt against the ruthless logical rigidity of his ' iiorrible decree.' They fling it from their belief with the eternal 'God forbid ! ' of an inspired natural horror. They dislike the tyranny of theocratic sacerdotalism ['?] which he establi.slied at Geneva. Nevertheless his Commentaries, almost alone among those of his epoch, are still a living force. They are far more profound than those of Zwingli, more thorough and scientific, if less original and less spiritual, than those of Luther. In spite of his many defects — the inequality of his works, his masterful arrogance of tone, his inconsequent and in part retrogressive view of inspiration, the manner in which he explains away every passage which runs counter to his dogmatic prepossessions — in spite, too, of his 'hard expressions and injurious declamations'— he is one of the greatest interpreters of Scripture who ever lived. He owes that position to a combination of merits. He had a vigorous intellect, a dauntless spirit, a logical mind, a quick insight, a thorough knowledge of the human heart, quickened by rich and strange experience; above all, a manly and glowing sense of the grandeur of the Divine. The neatness, precision, and lucidity of his style, his classic training and wide knowledge, his methodical accuracy of procedure, his manly independence, his avoidance of needless and commonplace homiletics, liis deep religious feeling, his careful attention to the entire scope and context of every passage, and the fact that he has commented on almost the whole of the Bible, make him tower above the great majority of those who have written on Holy Scripture. Nothing can furnish a greater contrast to many helpless commentaries, with their congeries of vacillating varlurnm annotations heaped together in aimless multiplicity, than the terse and decisive notes of the great Genevan theologian. ... A characteristic feature of Calvin's exegesis is its abhorrence of hollow orthodoxy. He regarded it as a disgraceful offering to a God of truth. He did not hold the theory of verbal dictation. He will never defend or harmonize what he regards as an oversight or mistake in the sacred writers. He scorns to support a good cause by bad reasoning. . . . But the most characteristic and original feature of his Commentaries is his anticipation of modern criticism in his views about the Messianic prophecies. He saw that the
290 THE REFORMATION IN FRENCH SWITZERLAND.
words of psalmists and prophets, while they not only admit of but demand 'germinant and springing developments,' were yet primarily applicable to the events and circumstances of their own days."
SCOTCH TRIBUTES.
In Scotland, the land of John Knox, who studied at the feet of Calvin, his principles were most highly appreciated and most fully carried out.
Sir William Hamilton (1788-1856).
"Looking merely to his learning and ability, Calvin was superior to all modern, perhaps to all ancient, divines. Succeeding ages have certainly not exhibited his equal. To find his peer we must ascend at least to Aquinas or Augustin."
Dr. William Cunningham (1805-1861).
Principal of the New College and Professor of Church History in Edinburgh. Presbyterian of the Free Church.
Reformers, and the Theology of the Reformation. Edinburgh, 1866, pp. 292, 294, 299.
" John Calvin was by far the greatest of the Reformers with respect to the talents he possessed, the influence he exerted, and the service he rendered to the establishment and diffusion of important truth. . . .
" The systematizing of divine truth, and the full organization of the Christian Church according to the word of God, are the great peculiar achievements of Calvin. For this work God eminently qualified him, by bestowing upon him the highest gifts both of nature and of grace ; and this work he was enabled to accomplish in such a way as to confer the greatest and most lasting benefits upon the Church of Christ, and to entitle him to the commendation and the gratitude of all succeeding ages. . . .
" Calvin certainly was not free from the infirmities which are always found in some form or degree even in the best men ; and in particular, he occasionally exhibited an angry impatience of contradiction and opposition, and sometimes assailed and treated the opponents of the truth and cause of God with a violence and invective which cannot be defended, and should certainly not be imitated. He was not free from error, and is not to be implicitly followed in his interpretation of Scripture, or in his exposition of doctrine. But whether we look to the powers and capacities with which God endowed him, the manner in which he employed them, and the results by which his labors have been followed, — or to the Christian wisdom, magnanimity, and devotedness which marked his character and generally regulated his conduct, there is probably not one among the sons of men, beyond the range of those whom God miraculously inspired by his Spirit, who has stronger claims upon our veneration and gratitude."
In another place which I cannot refer to, Cunningham, the successor of Chalmers, says : " Calvin is the man who, next to St. Paul, has done most good to mankind."